In 2007 I returned to collecting trading cards after stopping at the age of 13 in 1994. When I restarted, my Dad gave me his collection, which included a few hundred dusty Topps baseball cards from the late 60's and early 70's from when HE was a kid. Now, I've decided to complete the 1969 set with a good start of about a third of the set. -- Pack Addict 3/13/2009

Pack Addict has turned this blog over to me, so I will be continuing the tradition. -- Jim from Downingtown 2012

Sunday, December 31, 2017

First Look - San Diego Padres

Here's the fourth in a 5-part series where we get the first look at a new team's uniforms.

Four teams were added in the 1969 expansion, and although the players for these teams appeared capless or airbrushed in the early series, by mid-summer we started to see players in their new uniforms.

Today - the San Diego Padres

The Padres had the fewest number of veterans' cards in their new uniforms of any of the 4 new teams, but made up for it with three rookie cards. (Plus, we have "Podres with the Padres", so there's that!)

Set description I posted in Zistle

With the addition of 4 expansion teams in 1969, the Topps set ballooned to 664 cards. Horizontal backs returned, after a 2-year absence, making room for more stats on the back (such as league, and games played). Topps continued with the color-coding of teams used in the 1966 and 1968 sets, while adding pink and brown to the mix for the expansion teams. Most of the players for the Expos, Royals, Padres, and Pilots are seen in airbrushed or capless photos, but we start to see the new uniforms in the later series.

Among the cards are 25 manager cards (2 for the Senators), 12 league leader cards, 8 World Series cards, 20 all-star cards, 4 multi-player cards, and a whopping 52 rookie stars cards. For the first time in a decade, there were no team cards. (Topps would reinstate all team cards in the 1970 set.)

1969 rookies with significant playing time who were omitted from the set include Wayne Garrett, Rod Gaspar, Gail Hopkins, Ken Tatum, and Al Raffo.

Topps began issuing their annual "traded" sets in 1981. Prior to that, there was a handful of "traded" cards in the 1972 and 1974 sets. Even earlier, 2 unofficial "traded" cards appeared in the 1969 set. The Clay Dalrymple card was issued with 2 different photos – one as a Phillie, and another capless photo as an Oriole. The Donn Clendenon card also had 2 variations. Although the same airbrushed photo was used on both cards, one shows him as a Montreal Expo, while the other shows him as a “Houston”.

Significant errors in the 1969 set: - The Aurelio Rodriguez card has a photo of the Angels’ batboy.

Other quirks in the 1969 set: - As in the 1968 set, all Astros players are shown with a team name of “Houston”. - Jim Hicks appears on the Cardinals Rookie Stars card, after having his own card in the 1967 set as a member of the White Sox. - Hawk Taylor, who had cards in the 1966 and 1968 sets, appears in the 1969 set as Bob Taylor. - Orlando Martinez, who had cards in the 1967 and 1968 sets, appears as Marty Martinez from 1969-72.